Anamorphic prism

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to an anamorphic prism (11) for correcting an anisotropy of a radiation angle of a beam (14). The anamorphic prism (11) is constituted by a first prism (12) and a second prism (13) so that tha anamorphic prism (11) can have an achromatic structure. Refractive indexes and refractive index changes due to a wavelength fluctuation of the first and second prisms (12, 13), and an incident angle of the beam (14) to the first prism (12) can satisfy a predetermined relationship, and the beam (14) can be emerged from the second prism (13) at an exit angle of 0°. The anamorphic prism of this invention can be applied to an optical head or the like using a semiconductor laser as a light source.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an anamorphic prism for correcting an anisotropy in beam radiation angles.

BACKGROUND ART

For example, in an optical head for a programmable optical recording medium, a collimator lens having a high numerical aperture is normally used in order to improve utilization efficiency of a beam. When a semiconductor laser is used as a light source, an anisotropy in beam irradiation angles is generally corrected using an anamorphic prism.

The semiconductor laser causes a wavelength fluctuation Δλ of 10 to 20 nm due to a change in temperature, output power, and the like, or upon incidence of a return beam from the optical recording medium. A refractive index of the anamorphic prism changes due to the wavelength fluctuation Δλ, and as a result, an angle of an exit beam from the anamorphic prism may be changed. However, the conventional anamorphic prism cannot cope with this respect.

In a conventional anamorphic prism which consists of a single prism using an optical glass SF13 and has an enlargement magnification ratio β≈1.7, if Δλ≈10 nm, an exit angle change of Δξ≈0.02° occurs. Therefore, when an objective lens having a focal length f=4.5 mm is used, a beam spot is shifted by Δx=f·Δξ=1.5 μm in a lateral direction on the optical recording medium.

The wavelength fluctuation of about Δλ≈10 nm easily occurs due to various conditions, and cannot be controlled. As a result, it is difficult to perform positional control of the beam spot for a recording or reproducing operation, and a stable and accurate recording or reproducing operation cannot be performed.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

An anamorphic prism according to the present invention comprises a first prism which has a refractive index of n₁, a refractive index change of Δn₁ due to a wavelength fluctuation, and a vertex angle of θ₁, and a second prism which has the refractive index of n₂, the refractive index change of Δn₂, and a vertex angle of θ₂, and is bonded to the first prism. If an incident angle on the second prism of the beam that is incident on the first prism at an incident angle φ₁ is given as φ₂ and the incident angle φ₂ <the vertex angle φ₁, the first and second prisms and the incident angle φ₁ satisfy the following relation:

    (Δn.sub.2 /Δn.sub.1)·(n.sub.1 /n.sub.2)>n.sub.1.sup.2 /(n.sub.1.sup.2 -sin.sup.2 φ.sub.1)

If the incidence angle φ₂ > the vertex angle θ₁, they satisfy:

    (Δn.sub.2 /Δn.sub.1)·(n.sub.1 /n.sub.2)<n.sub.1.sup.2 /(n.sub.1.sup.2 -sin.sup.2 φ.sub.1)

In addition, the beam is emerged from the second prism at an exit angle of 0° with respect to the vertex angle θ₂.

With this structure, the anamorphic prism according to the present invention has no dependency with respect to a wavelength, and can have an achromatic structure.

For this reason, when the anamorphic prism according to the present invention is applied to an optical head in which a semiconductor laser is used as a light source and which is used for a recording or reproducing operation of information with respect to an optical recording medium such as an optical disk, even if a wavelength fluctuation occurs in the semiconductor laser due to a change in temperature, output power or the like of the semiconductor laser or upon incidence of the return beam from the optical recording medium, an angle of a beam emerged from the anamorphic prism will not be changed. Therefore, even if the wavelength fluctuation occurs, the irradiation beam spot cannot be fluctuated on the optical recording medium, and a stable and accurate recording or reproducing operation can be performed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1 and 2 are side views for explaining the principle of the present invention, respectively;

FIGS. 3 to 6 are side views showing first to fourth embodiments of the present invention; and

FIG. 7 is a graph showing the relationship between a wavelength and an exit angle change in the first embodiment and the two prior arts of the present invention.

BEST MODE OF CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

First to fourth embodiments of the present invention will now be described. Prior to the description of these embodiments, the principle of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.

In each of anamorphic prisms 11 in FIGS. 1 and 2, first and second prisms 12 and 13 respectively having vertex angles θ₁ and θ₂ are bonded to each other.

The first prism 12 has a refractive index n₁ with respect to light having a wavelength λ, and a refractive index change Δn₁ due to a wavelength fluctuation Δλ. The second prism 13 similarly has a refractive index n₂ and a refractive index change Δn₂.

If incident angles and refraction angles of a beam 14 having a wavelength λ incident on each anamorphic prism 11 at the prisms 12 and 13 are respectively given as φ₁, ξ₁, φ₂ and ξ₂, the following equations are established:

    sinφ.sub.1 =n.sub.1 ·sinξ.sub.1             ○ 1

    n.sub.1 ·sinφ.sub.2 =n.sub.2 ·sinξ.sub.2  ○ 2

In the case of FIG. 1, the following equation is established:

    φ.sub.2 =θ.sub.1 -ξ.sub.1                      ○ 3

In the case of FIG. 2, the following equation is established:

    φ.sub.2 =φ.sub.1 +ξ.sub.1                        ○ 3 '

When the wavelength of the beam 14 fluctuates to λ+Δλ, equation ○1 is rewritten as:

    sinφ.sub.1 =(n.sub.1 +Δn.sub.1)·sin(ξ.sub.1 +Δξ.sub.1)

however, since both Δn₁ and Δξ₁ are small, if this equation is developed and is substituted with an approximate expression, and terms of second degree or higher are 0, this equation can be:

    sinφ.sub.1 n.sub.1 ·sinξ.sub.1 +n.sub.1 ·Δξ.sub.1 ·cosξ.sub.1 +Δn.sub.1 ·sin .sub.1

Therefore, from this equation and equation ○1 , the following equation can be obtained:

    Δξ.sub.1 =-(Δn.sub.1 /n.sub.1)·tanξ.sub.1 ○ 4

Even if the wavelength of the beam 14 fluctuates to λ+Δλ, the vertex angle θ₁ is left unchanged. Therefore, from equations ○3 and ○3 ', equations ○3 and ○3 ' can be written as follows:

    φ.sub.2 +Δφ.sub.2 =θ.sub.1 -(ξ.sub.1 +Δξ.sub.1)

    φ.sub.2 +Δφ.sub.2 =θ.sub.1 +(ξ.sub.1 +Δξ.sub.1)

Therefore, these equations and equations ○3 and ○3 ' derive the following equations :

    Δφ.sub.2 =-Δξ.sub.1                      ○ 3

    Δφ.sub.2 =Δξ.sub.1                       ○ 5 '

When the wavelength of the beam 14 fluctuates to λ+Δλ, equation ○2 can be expressed as:

    (n.sub.1 +Δn.sub.1)·sin(φ.sub.2 +Δφ.sub.2) =(n.sub.2 +Δn.sub.2)·sin(ξ.sub.2 +Δξ.sub.2)

However, if the refraction angle ξ₂ does not have a wavelength dependency, since Δξ₂ =0, this equation can be rewritten as:

    (n.sub.1 +Δn.sub.1)·sin(φ.sub.2 +Δφ.sub.2) =(n.sub.2 +Δn.sub.2)·sinξ.sub.2

Therefore, if this equation is developed and substituted with an approximate expression, terms of second orders or higher are 0, and equation ○2 is used, this can yield:

    Δφ.sub.2 ={(Δn.sub.2 /n.sub.2)-(Δn.sub.1 /.sub.n.sub.1)}·tanφ.sub.2                    ○ 6

If equation ○5 or ○5 ', equation ○4 and equation ○3 or ○3 ' are used for equation ○6 , this can yield:

    tanξ.sub.1 ={(Δn.sub.2 /Δn.sub.1)·(n.sub.1 /n.sub.2)-1}·tan(θ.sub.1 -ξ.sub.1)       ○7

    tanξ.sub.1 ={1-(Δn.sub.2 /Δn.sub.1)·(n.sub.1 /n.sub.2)}·tan(θ.sub.1 +ξ.sub.1)         ○7 '

Equation ○7 is developed as:

    {tan.sup.2 ξ.sub.1 +1-(Δn.sub.2 /Δn.sub.1)·(n.sub.1 /n.sub.2)}·tanθ.sub.1 =-(Δn.sub.2 /Δn.sub.1)·(n.sub.1 /n.sub.2)·tanξ.sub.1

Since, ##EQU1## Then, ##EQU2##

Equation ○7 ' can be developed as: ##EQU3##

In either of equations ○8 and ○8 ', since the left-hand side and the numerator of the right-hand side are positive, the denominator of the right-hand side must be positive.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, if the vertex angle θ₂ is selected so that the beam is emerged from the prism 13 at the exit angle of 0°, the exit angle does not depend on the wavelength of the beam 14.

Therefore, if the anamorphic prisms 11 are designed to have the achromatic structure and if the incident angle φ₂ < the vertex angle φ₁, as shown in FIG. 1, the following relation must be satisfied:

    (Δn.sub.2 /Δn.sub.1)·(n.sub.1 /n.sub.2)>n.sub.1.sup.2 /(n.sub.1.sup.2 -sin.sup.2 φ.sub.1)

If the incident angle φ₂ > the vertex angle θ₁, as shown in FIG. 2, the following relation must be satisfied:

    (Δn.sub.2 /Δn.sub.1)·(n.sub.1 /n.sub.2)<n.sub.1.sup.2 /(n.sub.1.sup.2 -sin.sup.2 φ.sub.1)

First to fourth embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 3 to 7. In any of these embodiments, the anamorphic prism 11 consists of the first prism 12 using an optical glass BK7 and the second prism 13 using an optical glass SF11.

The optical glass BK7 has a refractive index n₁ =1.5112 with respect to light having a wavelength λ of 780 nm, and a refractive index change Δn₁ =0.0002 due to the wavelength fluctuation Δλ=10 nm. The optical glass SF11 has a refractive index n₂ =1.7660, and a refractive index change Δn₂ =0.0006.

In any embodiment, not only the anamorphic prism 11 has the achromatic structure, but also a reflection surface is provided to the prism 12 or 13 so that the beam incident and exit directions are perpendicular to each other so as to realize a compact optical head.

In any of the first to fourth embodiments, the incident direction of the beam 14 is oriented from the left to the right in the corresponding drawing. In the first embodiment shown in FIG. 3, in order to orient the exit direction from downward to upward in the drawing, the reflection surface is provided to the second prism 13. In the second embodiment shown in FIG. 4, in order to orient the exit direction from upward to downward in the drawing, the reflection surface is provided to the second prism 13. In the third embodiment shown in FIG. 5, in order to orient the exit direction from downward to upward in the drawing, the reflection surface is provided to the first prism 12. In the fourth embodiment shown in FIG. 6, in order to orient the exit direction from upward to downward in the drawing, the reflection surface is provided to the first prism 12.

Therefore, in the first and second embodiments, if each second prism 13 has a plane 15 perpendicular to the beam 14, these anamorphic prisms 11 can have at least the achromatic structure.

FIG. 7 shows the relationship between a wavelength and an exit angle change in conventional prisms which respectively have parallelogram-shaped side surfaces and respectively comprise only the optical glass BK7 or the optical glass SF13 and in the first embodiment.

As is apparent from FIG. 7, in the first embodiment, the exit angle has almost no dependency with respect to the wavelength, and the prism of the first embodiment has a substantially completely achromatic structure.

Industrial Applicability

The present invention can be applied to an optical head or the like in which a semiconductor laser is used as a light source and which is used for recording or reproducing information on or from an optical recording medium such as an optical disk. The optical head employing the present invention does not cause a disposition of a radiation beam spot on the optical recording medium even if the wavelength fluctuation occurs in the semiconductor laser, and a stable and accurate recording or reproducing operation can be performed. 

I claim:
 1. An anamorphic prism comprising:a first prism which has a refractive index of n₁, a refractive index change of Δn₁ due to a wavelength fluctuation, and a vertex angle of θ₁, and a second prism which has the refractive index of n₂, the refractive index change of Δn₂, and a vertex angle of θ₂, and is bonded to said first prism, wherein if an incident angle on the second prism of a beam that is incident on the first prism at an incident angle φ₁ is given as φ₂, when the incident angle φ₂ is less then the vertex angle φ₁, said first and second prisms and the incident angle φ₁ satisfy:

    (Δn.sub.2 /Δn.sub.1)·(n.sub.1 /.sub.2)>n.sub.1.sup.2 /(n.sub.1.sup.2 -sin.sup.2 φ.sub.1)

when the incidence angle φ₂ is greater than the vertex angle θ₁, they satisfy:

    (Δn.sub.2 /Δn.sub.1)·(n.sub.1 /n.sub.2)<n.sub.1.sup.2 /(n.sub.1.sup.2 -sin.sup.2 φ.sub.1)

and, the beam is emerged from said second prism at an exit angle of 0° with respect to the vertex angle θ₂.
 2. An anamorphic prism according to claim 1, characterized in that said anamorphic prism is applied to an optical head having a semiconductor laser as a light source, the beam being emitted from said semiconductor laser. 